Measuring ATSC 3 RF environment using autonomous vehicle

Abstract

Techniques are described for expanding and/or improving the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 television protocol in robustly delivering the next generation broadcast television services. A receiver, to automatically switch from presenting a service on a first frequency to a second frequency such as when a mobile receiver is moving through a boundary region between two broadcasters, can consider not just signal strength and error rates of two frequencies carrying the same service to select which frequency to tune to, but also relative location and direction of motion of the receiver with respect to each broadcaster along with parameters of the RF environment as previously measured by an autonomous vehicle such as a drone.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. In digital television in which at least one receiver can receive broadcast signals, a method, comprising:
 providing at least one mobile radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) vehicle with at least one vehicle digital television (DTV) receiver; 
 as the RFED vehicle moves, gathering RFED on plural DTV frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and 
 providing the RFED to at least one client DTV receiver to enable the client DTV receiver to select a frequency for a demanded service, wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed, at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least first and second distances between the vehicle and the first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and the respective first and second locations, at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a drone. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a land vehicle. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 using at least one physical layer pipe (PLP) to scan frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and 
 gathering the RFED from plural frequencies identified in the scan. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 steering one or more antennae on the vehicle to identify an antenna configuration correlated to optimizing reception of DTV signals in the region. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle DTV receiver comprises an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED comprises at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second frequencies. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and the respective first and second locations. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting respective first and second frequencies. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , comprising uploading the RFED to one or more computer network servers. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , comprising signaling the RFED to receivers in a region via ATSC 3.0 broadcast or 5G. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , comprising maintaining the RFED as proprietary and providing the RFED to subscriber receivers for remuneration. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , comprising embedding the RFED in receivers. 
     
     
       16. A radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) vehicle apparatus comprising:
 at least one vehicle digital television (DTV) receiver; and 
 at least one processor configured to: 
 as the RFED vehicle moves, gather RFED on at least first and second DTV frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and 
 provide the RFED to at least one database for provisioning to at least one client DTV receiver to enable the client DTV receiver to select a frequency for a demanded service, wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed, at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the first and second DTV frequencies, at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and respective first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies, at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. 
 
     
     
       17. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a drone. 
     
     
       18. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED vehicle comprises a land vehicle. 
     
     
       19. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 use at least one physical layer pipe (PLP) to scan frequencies using the vehicle DTV receiver; and 
 gather the RFED from plural frequencies identified in the scan. 
 
     
     
       20. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 steer one or more antennae on the vehicle to identify an antenna configuration correlated to optimizing reception of DTV signals in the region. 
 
     
     
       21. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the vehicle DTV receiver comprises an advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. 
     
     
       22. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED comprises at least one topographical feature in a region in which the vehicle is disposed. 
     
     
       23. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. 
     
     
       24. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED comprises at least first and second distances between the vehicle and first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. 
     
     
       25. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second relative motions between the vehicle and respective first and second locations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. 
     
     
       26. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the RFED comprises at least respective first and second elevations of respective first and second transmitters broadcasting the respective first and second DTV frequencies. 
     
     
       27. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to upload the RFED to one or more computer network servers. 
     
     
       28. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to signal the RFED to receivers in a region via ATSC 3.0 broadcast or 5G. 
     
     
       29. The RFED vehicle apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to maintain the RFED as proprietary and provide the RFED to subscriber receivers for remuneration. 
     
     
       30. A client digital television (DTV) apparatus comprising:
 at least one digital television (DTV) receiver; and 
 at least one processor programmed with instructions to configure the processor to: 
 select between a first frequency from a first transmitter and providing a digital television service and a second frequency from a second transmitter and providing the digital television service based at least in part on first and second radiofrequency (RF) environmental data (RFED) previously gathered by a RFED vehicle, the RFED comprising first and second RFED associated with the respective first and second frequencies, wherein the RFED comprises at least one parameter selected from; 
 at least one topographical feature in a region in which the receiver is disposed, or 
 at least first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, or 
 at least first and second distances between the receiver and respective first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters, or 
 at least respective first and second directions of travel between the receiver and the respective first and second transmitter, or 
 at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters, or 
 combinations of the at least one parameters. 
 
     
     
       31. The client DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the instructions are executable to execute at least one machine learning (ML) model to select a frequency. 
     
     
       32. The client DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises one or more parameters selected from: signal to noise ratio (SNR), error rate, resolution, bitrate, form-factor, content attributes, accessibility signaling, audio description, locality preference, quality of user interfaces. 
     
     
       33. The client DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the DTV receiver comprises at least one advanced television systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 receiver. 
     
     
       34. The DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises:
 at least one topographical feature in a region in which the receiver is disposed. 
 
     
     
       35. The DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises:
 at least first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters. 
 
     
     
       36. The DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises:
 at least first and second distances between the receiver and respective first and second locations of the respective first and second transmitters. 
 
     
     
       37. The DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises:
 at least respective first and second directions of travel between the receiver and the respective first and second transmitter. 
 
     
     
       38. The DTV apparatus of  claim 30 , wherein the RFED comprises:
 at least respective first and second elevations of the respective first and second transmitters.